Offering a foreigner's view on Korean TV and movies

Beautiful Gong Shim – First Impression

I’m pleasantly surprised by this new weekender, as it is more entertaining than expected. Helmed by the team behind Girl Who Sees Smells (aka Smelly Girl among some of us), Beautiful Gong Shim is funny with body gags here and there, some heart and of course the weekend makjang. Kudos to Minah of Girls’ Day for not minding at all being unglam, and I’m glad that the production team made her a plain Jane instead of deliberately making her ugly.

The titular character Gong Shim (Minah) is always overshadowed by her pretty and successful lawyer elder sister Gong Mi (Seo Hyo-rim), so much so that even her own parents never take her seriously (what kind of parents!). The sisters cannot be more different; if Gong Shim is naive, Gong Mi is shrewd. The sisters are just polar opposites of each other.

Suffering from severe lack of self-confidence, Gong Shim is always overly suspicious of others, which resulted in hilarious situations with both our males leads, Ahn Dan-tae (Namgoong Min) and Seok Jun-soo (Ohn Joo Wan). While Dan-tae is cheeky and takes much joy in poking fun at Gong Shim, Jun-soo is always kind to her and it’s no surprise that she’s loggerheads with Dan-tae but develops a crush on Jun-soo. The love square (?) is completed with Gong Mi’s interest in Jun-soo as well, though I’m pretty sure at this point of time Gong Mi’s interest in him stems purely from the fact that he’s first in line to inherit his family business.

The weekend makjang troupe here is most likely Dan-tae is the long lost cousin of Jun-soo, whom their Grandma strongly believes is still alive somewhere out there, despite Jun-soo’s parents insistence that he had vanished years ago. We’re told that Dan-tae’s real parents had died and Dan-tae was kidnapped, but it seems that Dan-tae grew up well with another set of parents and a maternal aunt to boot. Adoptive Dad is hell-bent on telling Grandma the truth, despite Aunt’s repeated pleas not to, and Adoptive Dad doesn’t have much time left to live. The plot is kinda predictable from here, so I’d like to see how the story unfolds, since the conclusion is pretty much a no-brainer.

I totally love the bromance between Dan-tae and Jun-soo, and I really hope Jun-soo wouldn’t turn to the dark side just because. And I must have been so “traumatised” by Namgoong Min character in Remember because I just can’t help but wonder if he’s cooking some nefarious plans behind that creepy smile. It’s my first time seeing Minah act and I must say she’s pretty good for an idol actress. She IS the character Gong Shim, which I think is pretty impressive. I’d recommend Show to anyone who’s looking for something light but doesn’t mind that oft-used makjang storyline (the fast-forward button is your best friend!).